Despair: Kearnan Myall

Don’t Tell Me The Score

Facing and overcoming despair, with Kearnan Myall. Kearnan is a former professional rugby player who toured Argentina with England in 2013. On a mid-season break during his playing career, Kearnan came close to taking his own life. Since hitting his lowest point, Kearnan has worked hard on his mental health and wellbeing- and is now in a good place. This month- he’s starting a PhD in psychiatry at Oxford University, researching mindfulness and mental health in athletes, with the aim of helping players to better cope with the stress they may be going through. In this episode, Simon and Kearnan talk about some of the factors that caused him to experience despair, which included him resisting normal emotions that didn’t fit with his own self-image as a rugby player. They also discuss some of the symptoms of depression that he experienced, and talk about the danger of giving people negative labels. Kearnan explains the steps he took to get himself back in a good place, and they discuss the power of mindfulness meditation- which has been a huge help to him.